Transportations systems have always strived to improve the methods by which passengers are aligned with vehicles. While the desire exists to have safe and efficient passenger alignment systems, currently they are very limited in application and/or limited in execution.
Currently, simplistic passenger alignment systems are utilized in airports and other mass-transportation systems. Such systems use video monitors and tabled data that passengers will review in order to locate the gate or terminal where the passenger's transport vehicle will be departing from or arriving at. These systems are rudimentary in comparison with modern technology and the data is not specific to particular passengers.
Some modern passenger alignment systems are capable of sending updates or departure/arrival information directly to the computing devices of one or more passengers. However, again, these systems are limited in use and functionality and are utilized only by mass-transportation providers (e.g., airlines, subways, trains).
While passenger alignment systems are used in mass-transportation settings, they have not been received or utilized in the personal transportation setting. Systems exist in the prior art that allow for a passenger to make a transportation request to a non-unique vehicle, such as in a taxi or other indiscriminant “ride-for-a-fee” service. An example of this can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 7,840,427 to O'Sullivan. However, these systems are directed to filling spare capacity in a taxi or other indiscriminant “ride-for-a-fee” services, and not pair particular passengers with a unique vehicle.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system and method for aligning a particular passenger or set of passengers with a unique vehicle. These and other features and advantages of the present invention will be explained and will become obvious to one skilled in the art through the summary of the invention that follows.